Flatbush

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Address: Former RKO Kenmore Theater, now Modell’s Sporting Goods Store
Cross Streets: Flatbush Avenue and East 21st Street
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: 1928
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival
Architect: Eugene DeRosa, with murals by Willy Pogany
Other Buildings by Architect: Times Square Theater, Broadway Theater, 8th Street Theater
Landmarked: No

The story: Brooklyn was once a city of theaters. In 1928, the Keith-Albee Kenmore Theater opened here, with a seating capacity of 2,420 people. The Kenmore was a vaudeville house, with the seating designed so that the audience was close to the stage. There were dressing rooms for the performers backstage and in the basement, and there was an orchestra pit and a huge Wurlitzer theater pipe organ. The theater was designed by Italian-born architect Eugene DeRosa, who designed over thirty major theaters in the New York City area. Among his finest were the Time Square Theater, now a church, and the Broadway Theater, for a long time, home to Les Miz. He also designed the now gone 8th Street Theater, forever famous as home to the Rocky Horror Show. (more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Commercial building
Address: 818 Flatbush Avenue
Cross Streets: Caton Avenue and Linden Boulevard
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: 1930’s
Architectural Style: Art Deco
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No

The story: Sometimes the most interesting buildings have no information available to us; on line, anyway. Such is the case with this really fine Art Deco commercial space. This part of Flatbush Avenue is near the commercial heart of Flatbush, the intersection of Flatbush and Church Avenues. The buildings here are a naturally evolving mixture of late 19th century Victorian, early 20th century Classical and Renaissance Revival, Art Deco and Modernist, on up to recent glass, concrete and mortar, late 20th century storefronts.

Flatbush in the 1930’s was a thriving middle-class neighborhood, and Flatbush Avenue has long been its busiest and most important commercial strip. It comes then, as no surprise that some really fine buildings were built here, all designed to house the stores and businesses that kept this area a one-stop shopping and entertainment area. This building has an advantageous corner location, and whatever was here originally surely took advantage of the ample light and space available.

I chose it as the BOTD because…
(more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Faith Assembly of God Church, formerly Young Israel of Prospect Park, originally Zion Lutheran Church.
Address: 2170 Bedford Avenue
Cross Streets: Corner of Martense Avenue
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: early 20th century, before 1913.
Architectural Style: British Arts and Crafts inspired
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No

The story: I enjoy wandering around neighborhoods that are unfamiliar to me, and finding architectural gems, sometimes, around every corner. Tucked in across from early 20th century flats buildings, one-story retail shops and later 6 story apartment buildings is this delightful church complex, a story-book Arts and Crafts confection. But wait, there was more history here….. (more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time

Name: Row House
Address: 665 Rutland Road, between Albany and Troy Avenues
Neighborhood: East Flatbush (Wingate)
Year Built: Early 1900’s
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No

The story: Now here’s something you don’t see every day; a one story, plus basement row house. It’s one of only two older buildings left on this block, now completely filled with new construction brick Fedders houses. Except for the awning, it looks original, and does not look like it had a storyectomy. There are windows on the right side, and a new one story extension to the left. The metal awning sits like a visor on the forehead of the building. The proportions, the large intact cornice, the doorways and windows, all fit a building with at least another floor, much like most of the houses in nearby Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and other parts of East Flatbush. I was not able to find this house in the records, and can only speculate as to what happened here. It would have been cool to see a whole row of these vertically challenged houses. Does anyone have any sightings anywhere else? GMAP

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Ebinger Bakery complex
Address: 38-52 Snyder Avenue, main factory around corner at 2207 Albemarle Rd., all between Flatbush and Bedford Avenues.
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: First building- 1912, addition-1913, largest building, around 1930.
Architectural Style: early 20c industrial
Architect: 38 Snyder- Benjamin Hudson, 52 Snyder-C.D. Cooley, Bedford/Albemarle building-unknown.
Landmarked: No

The story: Like Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs, the egg cream and New York pizza, the goodies from Ebinger’s Bakery were an iconic part of New York City’s cultural and culinary heritage. George and Catherine Ebinger, German immigrants, started Ebinger’s Bakery in 1898, here in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The original bake shop was on Flatbush Avenue, and was so popular that it grew to 57 outlets, selling over 200 varieties of German style pastries.
(more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: New York Congregational Home for the Aged
Address: 123 Linden Boulevard, between Bedford and Rogers Avenues
Neighborhood: East Flatbush
Year Built: 1918-center building, wings added 1921, 1927
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival
Architect: Parfitt Brothers (William A. Parfitt)
Landmarked: On State and National Register of Historic Places (2008)

The story: The Congregational Church has been active in New York since 1643, founded by New England Puritans in New Amsterdam. The church grew, and became front page news under the leadership of Henry Ward Beecher in the mid-1800’s. It was about this same time that many churches in Brooklyn began organizing old age homes for the indigent and elderly members of their denominations.
(more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Flatbush District School Number One, later PS 90
Address: 2274 Church Avenue, corner of Bedford Avenue
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: 1878
Architectural Style: Rundbogenstile
Architect: John Y. Culyer
Other buildings by architect: Flatbush Town Hall
Landmarked: Individual landmark, 2007

The story: Tucked into the shadow of Erasmus Hall High School, the Flatbush District School #1 is an endangered remnant of Flatbush’s proud educational history. This school is a descendant of the first Flatbush school, widely believed to be the first school in Long Island, founded by Flatbush’s Dutch settlers as early as 1659, which was near this location. The original H-shaped wing, in the Rundbogenstil, or round-arched style, was designed by John Culyer, a Flatbush civil engineer and landscape architect, who had just seen his design for the Flatbush Town Hall completed in 1875.

Culyer was the chief engineer and superintendent of Prospect Park, and a long time Brooklyn Board of Education member. Flatbush, at this time, was growing by leaps and bounds, changing from a rural agricultural town to a suburban destination, due to its place on the important Flatbush Turnpike, and later, the Flatbush trolley line and railroad. As town life came to Flatbush, the need was seen for civic buildings such as the Town Hall and a large school. The existing school, a small building built in the 1840′s was horribly overcrowded, turning away eligible students for lack of room. The situation was deemed disgraceful, and plans were made to build this new school building in 1878. Even so, by the time the building was completed, it was soon obvious that even more room would be needed, and an extension was planned and completed in 1894.
(more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Kingdom Hall, formerly Albemarle Theatre
Address: 973 Flatbush Avenue, corner Albemarle Road
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: 1919-1920
Architectural Style: French Renaissance Revival
Architect: Carlson and Wiseman
Other buildings by architect: by duo, Alpine Theatre, Bay Ridge, by Wiseman, former Kameo Theater, Crown Heights North, Pavilion Theater, Park Slope
Landmarked: No

The story: When the motion picture arrived big time in American culture, beginning in the late ‘teens and 1920′s, architects who designed theaters found themselves in huge demand. There were still plenty of commissions for vaudeville theaters, as vaudeville and variety acts were the most popular kind of entertainment at the time, and New York City, as a whole, saw theaters rising in almost every neighborhood. The smart theater impresarios could see the writing on the wall: the motion picture would soon be more popular than live acts (and much cheaper for them) and had all of their new theaters designed to accommodate both, or as time passed, just catered to movies.

Some theaters were huge palaces, like the nearby Loew’s Kings Theatre, while others were more modest affairs like the Albemarle Theatre, although it certainly wouldn’t be a small theatre had it been in a small town. The original theater space could seat close to 3,000 people, and had a separate banquet hall, accessible from a side entrance, above it. It was commissioned by John Manheimer, a seasoned theater professional, who was building several theaters in the city at the time.
(more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Flatbush Town Hall
Address: 35 Snyder Avenue, between Flatbush and Bedford Avenues
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: 1875
Architectural Style: Victorian Gothic
Architect: John Y. Cuyler
Landmarked: Individual landmark (1973), also on National Register of Historic Places.

The story: In 1873, the town of Flatbush voted against a proposal that would have annexed them to the City of Brooklyn. Since they had decided to remain an independent town, they needed a proper town hall from which civic business could be conducted, such as court sessions, elections and town meetings. John Y. Cuyler was commissioned to design the town hall, and a site on Grant Street, now Snyder Avenue, was chosen. Cuyler was an engineer, not a trained architect, who had gained a positive reputation from his work with Frederick Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, in creating Prospect Park. Perhaps Vaux helped him with the technical aspects of the design, because the Flatbush Town Hall is reminiscent of Vaux’ own design of Manhattan’s Jefferson Avenue Courthouse on 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village, only vastly simplified. It’s a classic small-town Victorian Gothic town hall. The front of the building has a large central gable with a triple arched entryway. The sides also have large gables, and all of the windows have Gothic-style pointed arched windows. A side tower has a classic Victorian steeply pitched roof, and the entire building is quite attractive with warm brick and rusticated granite, accented by creamy buff stone trim.
(more…)